Today, The Walking Dead is a cultural juggernaut, with multiple household-name TV adaptations and a library of games set in the world overrun by Walkers. It’s therefore surprising to look back at the series and learn how many of its most iconic moments were almost completely different. From the very beginning to the definitive ending, Walking Dead went through some major changes in the planning phase that transformed the story. However, one idea was never considered, and writer Robert Kirkman actually seems a little offended that fans ever thought it was in contention.

In The Walking Dead Deluxe #89 (from Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Dave McCaig), Kirkman shares the issue’s plan, his own creator notes from today, and reprinted letters from the original run, which often take on new meaning in the context of where the series ended up going. In this issue, a fan comments, “I have friends who are convinced that the series will end with it being revealed Rick was in a ******-up coma dream the whole time. Please don’t make them be right.” Kirkman responds with an emphatic, “Seriously, that is not the ending, I would never do that. DE-BUNKED.”

While Kirkman sometimes used the letters page to mislead fans, building up planned twists by making them seem less possible, we now know that the ending never came close to making the entire zombie apocalypse Rick’s coma dream. However, the franchise did almost end in a very different way.

Walking Dead was never a coma dream, but it was originally planned to end with a devastating loss for Rick’s survivors.

Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman Never Considered the ‘Rick’s Coma Dream’ Ending

The Walking Dead Creator Seems Offended by the Suggestion

At the start of The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes is shot while working as a small town sheriff’s deputy. He wakes up a few weeks later to discover the world has gone to hell. Billions of people have died, and the world is now overrun by the shambling undead. Over the course of the comic’s 193 issues, Rick acclimatizes to this brutal new world, leading a group of survivors through a series of horrific experiences and finally playing a pivotal role in re-establishing human civilization, this time on a far more equal footing.

The final issue of the series is a flashforward to an adult Carl in the future, raising his daughter in a world where zombies are no longer an everyday concern (though some are still out there.) Rick dies in issue #192, shot down by the privileged Sebastian Milton, who resents his family’s loss of power after Rick managed to break their hold over the Commonwealth. His death echoes the first issue, as he’s gunned down only to rise again – this time as a zombie which is finally put to rest by Carl.

Throughout the series, some fans speculated that the ending would eventually reveal that Rick had never woken up from his coma and that the undead apocalypse was his mind’s way of processing his situation. The concept found purchase in several aspects of the franchise – especially the idea that the zombies were a metaphor for Rick’s own approaching death, turning his fight for survival into a metaphor for his attempts to recover and return to the real world.

The idea was far from impossible – horror properties like The Descent and Ghost Stories have put their own twists on this idea – however Kirkman makes it very clear he never considered erasing all The Walking Dead‘s character growth and world-changing events by having Rick simply wake up. However, that disappointing ending might have been preferable to his original plan…

Kirkman told his original ending to Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln and executive producer Greg Nicotero, who “were nice enough to pretend it was cool.”

Kirkman Intended Walking Dead to Have a Much Different Ending

The Series Almost Ended with the Zombies Wiping Out Humanity

In The Walking Dead Deluxe #84, Kirkman revealed that he initially planned for an incredibly bleak ending. The final issue would have come as a surprise (something which was eventually the case), and would have ended with Rick giving a rousing speech to the survivors. The moment would then have cut to the future, where Rick would be depicted in the same pose as a gigantic statue, suggesting that not only did the survivors win the day, but they reestablished society for long enough to remember Rick as a folk hero.

However, a zombie would then have stumbled past the statue, with a further zoom-out to show a desolate, post-apocalyptic society where only the zombies remain, suggesting that humanity still lost in the end. Kirkman explains, “So, we’d leave readers with the idea that no matter what people did… the zombies win. I know, right?”

It’s a downer ending, and had the potential to leave fans feeling immensely cheated, given how much they’d invested in all the characters and their journey. Indeed, Kirkman noted that his originally planned ending was “bleak, sad… possibly terrible.” The only thing that saved fans from this ending was how flexible it was in terms of when Kirkman could deploy it. The planned time jump meant he could end the story whenever he wanted, only needing to put Rick in a situation where he was forced to give a climactic speech during a pitched battle. Kirkman recalls thinking, “Eh… I could do that any time.”

Kirkman was sure enough of this ending to tell Rick Grimes actor Andrew Lincoln and the executive producer of the Walking Dead TV adaptation Greg Nicotero, who “were nice enough to pretend it was cool.” However, as he kept pushing the ending back and back, Kirkman eventually began to feel his planned finale wouldn’t be satisfying. However, if the comic had been less fun to write or other projects had been more demanding of his time, fans really might have gotten the ‘zombies win’ ending. In fact, that’s only one way in which the franchise was almost radically different.

Kirkman originally intended to have Shane kill Rick in The Walking Dead #7 , with Carl witnessing the fight and carrying the dark secret of his father’s murder.

Walking Dead’s Final Form Could Have Been So Much Different

Kirkman Almost Killed Rick Instead of Shane

While The Walking Dead Deluxe‘s big idea is to reprint the series in color, any hardcore fan of the series is way more interested in the page of notes Kirkman includes about how the story was conceived and changed over time. So far, fans have learned that there were countless moments in the series that almost changed it for good. For instance, Kirkman originally intended to have Shane kill Rick in The Walking Dead #7, with Carl witnessing the fight and carrying the dark secret of his father’s murder.

Kirkman also had plans to kill other major characters – Andrea was originally meant to die in The Walking Dead #5, but ended up becoming one of the franchise’s longest-running protagonists, eventually dying in The Walking Dead #167. Similarly, Kirkman not only intended for Maggie to kill the villainous Negan, but wrote the entire script for the issue, with only the input of artist Charlie Adlard changing his mind. Instead, Negan doesn’t just live but essentially reforms, proving Rick’s vision of a merciful human civilization is possible.

Walking Dead was originally planned as part of a sci-fi trilogy, with Kirkman imagining the same characters dealing with different scenarios in alternate realities. However, when The Walking Dead took off beyond previous expectations, these plans fell by the wayside.

Other characters were also meant to die far sooner, but there were also intriguing additions that came close to being implemented. Former Alexandria resident Alexander Davidson was meant to return to the series as a major villain, Rick was going to attach a hammer to his arm after losing his hand, and Eugene Porter was going to start experimenting on zombies, building on his discovery of an unusually weak Walker in Walking Dead #55. For various reasons, none of these ideas made it into the comics, and yet it’s still staggering to know how different The Walking Dead could have become at any of these moments.

Despite All the Odds, Walking Dead Got a Great Ending

Kirkman Avoided a Lot of Hurdles to Give His Story a Satisfying Resolution

Ultimately, The Walking Dead got the satisfying ending it deserved – a bittersweet reflection of its themes, as humanity rises once again thanks to Rick’s leadership and heroism, having learned important lessons from the zombie plague (which is now known as ‘the Trials.’) In the final issue, fans get to see where all their favorite characters ended up, as well as witnessing the goals and tensions that define the now-ascendant humanity. This final success is very different from Kirkman’s original plan to time-jump to a zombie victory, however Walking Dead fans can rest assured that it was never his plan to end the franchise with Rick simply sitting up in bed.